| The Wood Brothers – The Truth Is the Light Lyrics | 11 months ago |
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This song has become one of my very favorites, for the redeeming message and resounding delivery. The message is simple: we are all better off with the truth, even when the truth is painful. Especially when the truth matters so much, in this particular case in an unrequited romance. (Before I get to the details I need to correct what I believe is a mistake in the common transcription of the lyrics. What I hear for "It's a sad song you cannot sing" is instead "It's a sad song you can't unsing". The latter is easier to interpret, but the vague ambiguity of the former doesn't contradict my read of the song, it's just nonsensical.) "The truth is the light" says that we all get the most benefit from honesty, even when the truth is painful: when "It hurts sometimes", "that sayings still right". This is a crucial premise for these times, when the truth is under attack for selfish nefarious purposes. But the song zooms in specifically tn a love relationship - verse two: "Love is a flame". It can warm you or it can burn you. Right? Hell, yes. Verse three, "You might have to cry", but better to cry than to stay in the flames and get some smoke in your eyes (and worse). The next (fourth) verse gets to the crux: I will be liberated – “… feel my wings” – when you release the truth you’ve been holding back – “With your lips unbuttoned // I know you're gonna set me free”. I will be free to make my own choices, even if what you want isn’t what I want. (About the above corrected “sad song you can’t unsing” verse, the sad song is an unrequited love story, which the unwelcomed lover can’t forget, “but that’s alright”...) The next expository verse continues this theme. It follows a refrain of “The truth is the light” and starts with “Some people might steal and cheat me”. To their lover they say “don't deceive me // And it'll be all right” … “I can get my peace // No matter how bad // You know it's gonna set me free”. The last new verse, before the final “truth is the light” refrain, starts with “My birds gonna sing”. Even if you “cut his wings” (might have been more gently phrased with the idiom “trim his wings”), my feelings in the world are going to continue to be strong, my heart is going to ring, “my birds going to sing”. The singer’s crystal clear, gutsy yet so tuneful voice, the resounding bass lines and eloquently pining but not whining slide guitar, this is a stark and redeeming song of vitality in love, even unrequited love. Beautiful. Beautiful. |
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| R.E.M. – Maps And Legends Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I feel that this song actually describes what it is that I love about R.E.M. I'm always captivated by the conviction in their songs - a sense that they're singing about vital stuff - exultant! And yet, I usually can't tell specifically *what* it is that they're singing about! > Where he ought to be, he sees what you > Can't see, can't you see that There's something that the subject of the song (Reverend Howard Finster, the visionary minister/artist that others have mentioned?) sees, something that we don't see, and > Maybe he's caught in the legend > Maybe he's caught in the mood > Maybe these maps and legends > Have been misunderstood Maybe he understands in a way that *conventional understanding* is unable to do - by disregarding convention, by following his own muse: > Called the fool, and the company > On his own, where he'd rather be > Where he ought to be, he sees what you > Can't see, can't you see that ... he's found, transcendence? Grace? At the least, conviction. I believe that this is the secret of R.E.M.'s compelling beauty. The ability to recognize and cultivate their own sense of conviction, in their songs. With so many other artists, we can identify the subject of their exultation, and believe that we understand what moves them, is moving us. But I think that understanding is an illusion. Love songs, rebellion, the blues, I suspect the overt sentiments are just vehicles for a sense of vitality, of being compelled, that the artists recognize and convey in their works. I don't know exactly what R.E.M. does to arrive so reliably at that sense of conviction, without the overt sentiments - I think it's a deeply poetic skill, shared by some other New Wave favorites like The Talking Heads, XTC - but in any case, they do it so well, and I love it. (At least, to my ears, until Document - they lost me after that.) |
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